January Grey and scrappy blankets

Someone told me she was fed up with January and I couldn't agree more. What a mistress of grey this month has been. I am happy to kick this month out of my way to regain some type of energy to find my way back to more regular blogging and living.

So far this month has been a very busy one for me in Real Life Me with a long list of activities, happenings and appointments. But! I have also been working on several fun crochet projects. I lift my hat to grey January for allowing me hours of crochet without feeling guilty... I guess this is the silver lining of Miss January Grey. (I first saw January as a male... a Mister... But somehow along writing this blog post he transformed into a her... A bit innocent with grey and all... Does this make sense? Or am I rambling again?)

One crochet project is the scrappy blanket I started on during the holidays. It is cool, trendy and old fashion modern. Is that possible(?), you might ask, and yes it is possible.

I'm now half way through with this project and absolutely adore the simplicity in just choosing colors as I go, finding new color combinations and see how they react in surprisingly wonderful ways... Who would have guessed that cerise pink, purple and curry yellow followed by teal, creamy beige and white would look great??? I'm just saying... It is pure color therapy for a multi-colored girl like me and it lifts me up in the dull days of Miss January Grey. I'm using my acrylic stash for this project... The stash is big and the colors countless... I see endless fun of colored rows and I'm writing the pattern as I go...

Something else that has lifted me up to the skies are all the wonderful Nordic Shawls (check out this one, this one, this one, this one, this one, this one...) out there in Blogland and InstagramWorld.

Never in my wildest dreams would I have guessed this pattern would become so popular. I would never have imagined it in so many different color combinations. And never ever would I have expected so many sweet words and cheerful comments about this pattern and myself as the designer. I am humbled and speechless... I am blushing and taking it all in, filling my spirit with all this loveliness and discovering a new creative me in all this. THANK YOU!

The Nordic Shawl Pattern (purchase it here...) has really been a dream come true. I am inspired to design more, create more and share more. This is only the beginning...

Please, if you are making a Nordic Shawl,
email me a picture of your finished Nordic Shawl
together with your social media details.

myrosevalley@bluewin.ch

I am planning a Nordic Shawl Potpurri for inspiration
to all of you who still haven't started on your own creation.

Kärlek
Annette

Bright granny square fun

What started out being a need to just play around with bright colors, soon became a fun granny square project. In my head I just want a nice bright pillow on my couch come spring to make me happy and what suits it better than white joining? It is timeless, classy, modern, fun and I actually find it very Scandinavian. I mean this "using white as joining color" is  atrend that started years ago and I always wanted a creation in this design.

I am using my Tilda yarn in just a random mix of bright colors. You can buy Tilda yarn in my Yarn Shop. I whip up a few at night in fronbt of the TV, fasten off the ends the next evening. Add a round of white. Just top realize I want another row of white... A bit of a waste of time and double fastening off ends but hey. It is never to late to change your mind on something when crocheting right? I love working on this project and I hope I will follow through and finish it soon and not in 2015 sometime... You know what it can be like sometimes.

I am off for a girls' weekend in 10 minutes (I better get going NOW!!!). Picking up 5 of my favorite girls who are flying in from Sweden. We will drive up to Gstaad tonight and the champagne is chilled and ready for our arrival. And then there will be skiing, with some new snow (YAY!), raclette night out and just a lot of giggles, laughter, dancing on sofa's and to much wine in PJ's. That is how it usually ends up anyway. All us 40+ ladies turn into young 20 something in our souls when we get together. It is a nice feeling.

Happy weekend all and see you next week.

Kärlek
Annette

Hmmmm - where shall I start?

So who wants to see Christmas ornaments at the end of January? Christmas is faaaaaar gone and now we are looking forward right? Well, I've been a bit absent lately and Christmas was clinging on for quite some time around here...  These pictures are the story of my last few weeks.

Christmas tree and decorations are now packed away in boxes and put in the attic until next time... The pillow covers are washed and carefully folded away in my linen cupboard. Slowly I am lightening up my living room area with pastels and white, spring flowers and garlands... New pillows are in the making to cheer me up with happy colors.

The Swiss Alps are beautiful. Being the first one on the slope a beautiful morning was a completely new experience for me this year. I think I am getting hooked on skiing the slopes. I'm watching the mountain silhouettes late at night. Taking snowy walks and enjoying the Swiss German architecture, so stunning and rustic (I love it!) as much as I can as it is so terrible grey and gloomy in our home village down by the Geneva Lake... We have been up to Gstaad a couple of times already to enjoy the fresh air and outdoor life. Next weekend I take my Swedish girlfriends there for a girly weekend. I got 2 bottles of bubbly chilled and waiting for us in the fridge... :D

I am hooking a row or two on my blanket every night... Picking colors as I go with no thought... No scheme... No expectations... Love this new blanket project.

I am starting new projects every day or so... Like normal... I am the girl who loves to start but find it incredibly hard to finish... Easily distracted, just like my 9 year old Luca Bo in school... Oh. I've never thought of it like that before. How enlightening. Suddenly I understand him!

We bake cup cakes but they never seem to make it to the table... The kids love this affair, icing and sprinkles... Munching and filling up on these sugary treats.

Charlie the cat is cuddling up on top of pillows, computer keyboards, kitchen chairs, my crochet basket, my chair, on top of my books, on my cutting mat and of course on Emmy Bo's pillow. He is a pain in the neck this cat and we totally love him for it.

Kärlek
Annette

Falling in love

I am amazed and excited. I have fallen head over heels in love. Again. This time it is the popcorn stitch. How come I haven't tried this stitch before? Look at its beauty. And I thought it was complicated but it is the most simple stitch ever. The result so different with its texture and smooth curves. I see a million possibilities for this stitch. And so I remind myself how lucky I am having this great passion - crochet. I am constantly exploring, discovering and learning new things. I fall in love with this craft over and over again and every time feels like the first time. It fulfills me, it helps me grow. It inspires me. It calms me. It is my yoga for my soul.

Just some rambles from a crochet lover to another...

Kärlek
Annette

A New Year - A New Project

Our family visitors have returned back to the US and the house feels all awkward and empty... The kids are crying as they already miss their Uncle, Aunt and Cousins... Complaining that the house is way to boring with "only" us 5 here. To quiet. Not enough love. Not enough laughter... Not enough action. Me and my man on the other hand are enjoying the quiet and the fact that there isn't something going on every minute, every second of the 24 hours of a day... But sure, we miss our family too. It was a good time. We built some great memories during their two week long visit and now we move on and step into a New Year to tackle New Challenges. YAY!

I started on a new project. After staring at my acrylic stash of yarn for quite some time and processing some different ideas for a while I finally started. I have to admit that I am not a big fan of acrylic as I often think it shines funny as it is synthetic (looking almost like plastic sometimes...) and it pills after a short time of use and it tend to loose its shape after a while. But acrylic yarn is cheap and it often comes in a wide range of colors so I have collected quite a lot of it throughout the last couple of years. I thought my acrylic stash would be good for a "scrappy" stash buster blanket so here I am playing...

I started with a basket of mixed colors for inspiration and tried out some different stitching ideas; just trebles back and forth, granny stitch back and forth, shell stitches back and forth, ripple stitches, homemade funny stitches... After playing around and frogging a number of test swatches thinking they were either to plain or to complicated for my taste I suddenly had a picture popping up in my head of what this blanket shall look like.

It will be a colorful blanket, for sure, but I wanted something special for it so I got started with a white and black alternating stitch for a starting border to be followed by simple v-stitch stripes. I am loving it! It is whipping up so quick and I am totally absorbed by the color play. This blanket is making me happy and  I am, for the first time in a long time, even bringing this project with me in bed. That says something right?

I'll keep you posted on my progress and my next challenge in this particular crochet blanket project is to come up with a great name for it. I would love a folksy name, maybe a Northern Scandinavian old fashion name or an Irish, Scottish, Celtic name. A name with integrity and strength, love and comfort at the same time. Maybe something Eskimo inspired... Any suggestions are welcome.

Back to my blanket. 12 rows last night... I am sure I can whip up another 12 tonight. This makes me happy!

Kärlek
Annette